


He Just Can't Get it Right

by EffyzonFire



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-25
Updated: 2016-05-23
Packaged: 2018-04-06 03:42:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4206678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EffyzonFire/pseuds/EffyzonFire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Coffee shop Au based on the prompt of "barista can't spell my name right".</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [masksarehot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/masksarehot/gifts).



> Hello! Thank you for reading! This is the first fic I've actually stuck with long enough to get a full chapter out. It might be kind of long, so look forward to more chapters! Please comment and like, I'd love feedback to make it as excellent as possible (,:

Levi was sick of working here, and even more sick of the awful people that came into the shop. Always busy and equivalently loud, this coffee shop was on the bustling corner of an obnoxiously frequented business center. He wouldn't be working here if it weren't for his shitty previous roommate, Hange, transferring mid-semester to some fancy, probably overpriced, university in Manhattan. Now he had to cover all of the rent. The funds he received from students loans weren’t quite cutting it, so he had to get a job around school in order to get by. Now he had to spend most of his mornings in this shitty coffee shop, serving shitty coffee to shitty customers. Levi uttered curses at "Shitglasses" as he steamed milk for a sugar free, nonfat, vanilla latte, with two pumps of caramel.

Levi hated the smell of this syrupy coffee. Before working here, he had been mostly ambivalent about coffee, but now that he made it for hours on end for rude, over-privileged (and overpaid) business people, he loathed it. He called the order as he placed it on the counter, trying to make his face more neutral in expression (after a bit of chastisement from his manager, he did his best to not frighten customers with his scowl.) As Levi returned to the cash register to get the next order, he caught a glimpse at the time. "7:04," the clock read. Levi narrowed his eyes, disgruntled that he still had another five hours until his shift was over. The clock ticked by, coffee beans were ground, espresso was made, milk was steamed, and beverages were served.

Levi looked up in annoyance as a man in a suit with flawless hair, and a cell phone against his ear, shoved the door open loudly, making his way to the counter.

"No, I told him I wanted that file on my desk this morning. If it's not there, someone will have some serious explaining to do. Buildings don't make themselves, Petra." He paused as he moved towards counter, eyes hazed over with distraction from his current phonecall.

Levi cocked a narrow eyebrow, leaning against the counter in boredom, waiting for the man to stop talking and to place his order. The businessman barely acknowledged Levi, merely flicking his wrist towards him and saying "Large latte, extra foam, extra shot,” before returning to arguing with the voice on the phone.

"Tell the contractors that we’re not giving them anymore than what they bid for. Zachly should already have all the permits, the foundation is down, when the hell is the inspector gonna show?" the man rambled on as he pulled out his wallet, dropping a shiny, platinum colored card on the counter.

Irritated with this man’s rudeness, Levi tilted his head in exasperation, asking “name?” as he picked up the card. The barista rolled his eyes when he was ignored completely in favor of this apparently important phone call. He knew he could look at the name on the glaringly shiny credit card as he swiped it through the register, but he figured that if Levi wasn’t worth his time, then this man wasn’t worth Levi’s. The man absentmindedly received his card and placed it back into his wallet, phone still pinched between his large shoulder and his ear.

Levi grabbed a large cup to begin preparing the beverage, stepping aside for his coworker to snag the next customer. Since it was store protocol to ensure every cup had the customer’s name, Levi knew he had to write something, and he pressed his marker’s cap against his chin in thought. Deciding on what he wanted to write, he shrugged and scrawled “Mr. Phone Call” on the cup. He knew it wasn’t particularly creative, but he didn’t feel like getting written up for writing anything even more rude. He drowned out the sound of Mr. Phone Call with the espresso machine and the sound of steaming milk, until he had to actually put the drink together. After sealing the lid tightly and placing a sleeve on the cup, Levi place it on the counter and said loudly enough for Mr. Phone Call to hear over his rather booming voice, “Large latte on the bar.” Mr. Phone Call walked over, and absently grabbed the beverage, heading towards the door.

Levi began taking the order of the woman next in line, glancing up in time to see Mr. Phone Call pause outside of the store’s windows as he stared at his cup. The man glanced into the store, slight annoyance sitting on his face, and Levi suppressed a snort at the way the man’s large eyebrows pinched together, quickly turning away to pay attention to the customer in front of him.

 

Levi walked out of the shop at 12:03, after clocking out and hanging up his apron, a cup of hot English Breakfast tea in hand. Monday through Friday, Levi attended a university in San Francisco, after working mornings at the shitty coffee place. Saturdays and Sundays were dedicated to schoolwork and cleaning. He made enough to live where he did and eat occasionally, but most of his money went to covering school expenses that student loans didn’t cover. Much to his annoyance, Levi had discovered that a degree in Chemistry was a terribly large amount of work and required a terribly large amount of money. Student loans were great and all, but they have to be paid back eventually. He silently cursed his parents: his mother for dying when he was so young and his dad for being a worthless drunk.

Levi huffed as he turned the key to his apartment door, 3rd floor, room 307. It was rather small and relatively barren, with a tiny, dishwasher-less kitchen, a small leather couch--courtesy of Shitglasses--and a desk fit snugly into the corner, a grey-scale periodic table pinned to the wall over it. The once painfully cramped bedroom was now breathable without Hange stinking up the place, and the comfortably small, blue tiled bathroom was even more immaculate than the rest of the apartment. Despite working and going to school full time, Levi managed to keep his apartment impressively clean. He placed his keys on the key hook by the entrance, closing the door behind him. The white walls gleamed with the light pouring in the windows, and Levi made his way to his bedroom to grab the items he would need for school, silently hoping that the over zealous sun wouldn’t bring summer along too soon.

Because of his unfortunately slight structure, courtesy of his mother, he got cold very easily, and his pale skin made him prone to sunburns--so he didn’t care for summer nor winter all that much. Since it was the middle of March, it was still chilly, particularly in the morning, but the daytime was tolerable. With a sweatshirt, beanie, and scarf, that is. Levi removed his light gloves, seeing as it had warmed up a bit since 5 o’clock in the morning, and placed them in the dresser drawer, grabbing his backpack off of its designated hook next to his dresser. He ran his narrow fingers through his silky, black hair as he racked his brain for what homework was due today. After mulling over his mental checklist, and grabbing a granola bar and an apple, Levi carefully placed the needed homework from his desk into his backpack. He glanced around the kitchen and living room, grabbed his tea, and left for class, locking the door behind him.

 

Levi’s grey eyes flew open when his alarm began shouting terrible music at him, 5:00 sharp. He sat up grumpily, dragging blankets with him as he moved to shut off the song that was playing. Throwing one end of a blanket around his shoulders poncho style, he walked to the kitchen to turn on the stove for tea, rubbing his puffy, sleep deprived eyes. He showered quickly and got ready for work, making his bed, pouring his morning tea, bundling up for the foggy, brisk weather, and put his headphones in to listen to music on his way to the coffee shop. He clocked in at 5:58, grabbed his apron, and began serving the few early bird customers that came in most mornings.

The morning was rather uneventful, the usual hustle-bustle and chittering and bickering, as well as the typical coffee making clamor resounding through the store. It wasn’t until Levi heard the jingle of the door opening and turned around to greet the most recent customer that he realized it was Mr. Phone Call again, impeccably dressed like most of the businessmen that meandered into their store. Since they were near the San Francisco Financial District, well dressed ladies and gents were kind of the norm, so Levi wasn’t sure why this man stood out to him. Maybe it was his eyebrows.

“...Yes, that should do just fine. I expect that the building will have made enough progress in two or three weeks that we can bring in the plumbers and the electricians.”

Mr. Phone Call made his way to the counter, transferring the responsibility of phone holding from his hand to his shoulder. He reached into his pocket to procure a wallet, pulling out the same shiny card as he had yesterday, dropping it rudely on the counter as he had yesterday, and right when Levi opens his mouth to ask what he would like, Mr. Phone Call places one hand over the speaker on his phone and says “Same as yesterday.”

Levi scowls at him as he picks up his card, miffed that the guy expects Levi to have remembered exactly what he ordered the day before. He’s lucky that Levi has an exceptional memory.

Levi swipes the card, fuming, and hands it back to the man before grabbing a cup from next to him to start preparing the drink. In his overworked, underpaid, unrested angst, Levi takes his marker and writes “Eyebrows” on the cup, then proceeds to make the shitty large latte with extra foam and an extra shot.

He put the beverage on the bar and called “Large latte” before stomping back to the register, intent on seeing Eyebrows’ reaction to today’s nickname. Levi greeted the next customer, glancing back over to Eyebrows, hiding a mischievous grin. Levi ran his fingers through his hair in silent satisfaction when he saw Eyebrows look at his cup after an experimental sip upon walking out of the store. Levi almost snickered when he saw Eyebrows pause and slowly reach up to touch his eyebrows.

What Levi hadn’t expected was the little twist in his gut when Eyebrows turned to look back into the store with a slightly crestfallen look on his face.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So it continues...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god  
> I cannot believe it took me literally a whole year to get out another chapter. I can't even  
> Okay, well, here's your thrilling sequel to chapter 1... I hope you guys like it, feel free to leave comments/feedback, and thank you so much for reading! There's definitely more in store, so... let's hope I can make it happen in less than a years time. Ha :,D

Levi swore he could feel the scowl sitting on his face. This Friday shift felt particularly shitty. He had studied all night for a chemistry exam, so the lack of sleep was displayed prominently on his face. Directly beneath his eyes in the form of dark, bruise-like bags, to be exact.

“Jesus, Levi, did you get punched in the face or something?” Levi’s coworker and sort-of friend, Farlan, inquired. Levi grunted in return, not exactly in the mood to deal with Farlan’s jokes at his expense. He was a bit... outgoing for Levi’s tastes.

“Must have been that bad attitude catching up with you, finally piss someone off enough for them to-”

“Oh my god, piss off, would you? I’m damned tired is all,” Levi snarled, annoyed with remaining composed and civil. Thankfully Farlan had thick skin, or maybe he was just dumb, but Levi’s lashing out didn’t seem to bother him too much. He simply laughed and greeted the next customer walking to the cash register. Levi’s eyes narrowed in annoyance as he finished restocking the syrups in the cabinets.

As Levi moved to join Farlan at the registers, Farlan turned and pushed Levi’s shoulder, and with a mischievous grin commented, “I don’t know why you’ve gotta get so mad.”

Levi would have smacked himself (or Farlan) in the face with frustration if a customer hadn’t walked up, inquiring about the calorie difference in a nonfat mocha versus a nonfat vanilla latte. He sighed and did the best he could to answer her question.

A few hours went by, along with the entirety of Levi’s patience, and he was itching to walk out the door. He was so exhausted that his eyes felt dry and sandpapery, a fog was starting to settle over on his thoughts, and he was pretty sure every joint in his legs were aching in protest of the lack of sleep. He pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut, hoping to force his tear ducts into production, but not to much avail. Levi blinked a couple of times then glanced at the clock, sighing with relief when he saw he had only about 5 minutes left of his shift.

Of course, a customer decided to walk in and ruin the last minutes of Levi’s shift with beverage making. Of course, it was a snobby looking, well dressed business man. Of course, it was Eyebrows walking to the register. Of course, he was on his shitty phone, talking to shitty people, with a ridiculously loud voice. Did he know he was talking that loudly? Does he not know how to increase the volume on his phone? Or is he just so fucking loud he made himself go deaf and now has to continue talking obnoxiously loud so he can hear himself talk? Fuck.

As he approached Levi, Levi grabbed the cup and immediately began writing the order he knew Eyebrows would have on it. Eyebrows set the silver card on the counter, put a hand over the speaker on his phone, and opened his mouth to speak, but Levi cut him off.

“Large quad shot latte, extra foam, I got it,” he said flatly, with an expression that was definitely a lot harsher than he intended it to be. Eyebrows blinked and stuttered out an “uh,” but Levi had already moved away to begin making the drink after a quick swipe of the credit card.

Levi made the drink, pressed on the lid, slid on the sleeve, and loudly placed the drink on the counter. Eyebrows looked up as Levi called, loudly enough for the whole cafe to hear, “Eyebrows, your drink is ready,” then proceeded to remove his apron and drop it on the hook before stomping into the Employee area of the cafe. He was small and quick, and no one could even stop him if they wanted to before he clocked out and left the shop. As he turned to pull his beanie out of his bag, he saw Eyebrows walking away from the cafe. Levi couldn’t tell if it was amusement or anger sitting on his face, but right now, he didn’t care. He had a chemistry exam to pass.

~~~~

After Levi finished a majority of his homework on Saturday afternoon, he began his weekly task of household cleaning. Making sure everything in his apartment was immaculately cleaned and organized acted as a comforting outlet for him. Since his mother was out of the picture for most of his childhood, as well as his father being mostly useless, it was Levi’s self proclaimed responsibility to ensure their small, run-down apartment was as clean as possible. Nowadays, keeping a petite, decently maintained apartment clean was a much simpler task. Well, the process was much more arduous when Hange lived there, but now it was pretty easy to upkeep.

Levi opened a drawer of his dresser to remove a bandana, tying it around his head to keep his dark fringe out of his face while he cleaned. After gathering his supplies and the vacuum cleaner, Levi made quick work of the kitchen and living room, moving his way towards his bedroom and bathroom. One by one, he pulled the books off of the small shelves near the window to dust them. They were a hodge podge assortment of both Hange and Levi’s, since Hange was apparently too scatter-brained to remember to grab her own shitty books. He removed one small, paper bound book, some weird book about the human condition or something--usually he tried to block out Shitglasses when she went on her tangents about her latest literary find-- and to his surprise, a small rectangle of plastic dropped to the ground.

Levi paused and reached down, picking up what he discovered to be a gift card. Hange probably used it as a bookmark, since she tended to grab the closest thing she could find to mark important pages. Once Levi had found a string of floss in a book, and immediately screeched and hurled it at Hange when he discovered a piece of food attached to the string. A gift card, however, Levi could handle. He inspected it closer, and didn’t see any indication that it had been used before. Even though he was slightly confused as to why it hadn’t fallen out of the book sooner, he shrugged the thought off when the ache of an empty stomach made itself present.

Hange wasn’t coming back to San Francisco for a while, and it was her own fault she had left it there, so Levi concluded that he would make use of the card for the night. He recognized the restaurant on the card: it was a nice looking pizza place that he had seen a couple times walking to Pier 39. He looked at his alarm clock to check the time.

Considering it was only a half past 6, Levi decided that he would walk to the restaurant. He grabbed his wallet, slipped the gift card inside, and placed it in his pocket, just in case Shitglasses used the card and failed to throw it away. Carefully placing the clean books back on the shelf, Levi tucked away his cleaning supplies and bundled up. He put on a heavy grey peacoat, throwing a long, dark green scarf around his neck before tucking the ends neatly inside his jacket for extra warmth. On his way out the door, he grabbed his gloves (just in case) and put his keys in the front pocket of his jeans.

He didn’t walk this way frequently, but the way was pretty well lit. People passed by him, some in pairs or small groups, with others walking alone. Levi enjoyed people watching, and San Francisco was certainly a great place for that. Observing people along the way made the walk go by quickly, so before he knew it, he was standing in front of a decent looking pizza parlor.

He took a seat at the small bar in the restaurant, grabbing a menu to browse the food and drinks. After a few moments, the waiter arrived, taking his drink order and reciting the appetizer specials for the evening. Levi squinted at the menu, asking for a gin and tonic, as well as a few more minutes to look at the menu.

The waiter hurried away, leaving Levi a few moments of peace. He settled on getting a small vegetarian pizza, just in case Hange kept a used up gift card--wouldn’t want to pay too much out of pocket. Before the waiter returned with his drink and his order, Levi took a moment to remove his jacket and scarf. He could tell he had messed up his hair in the process of unwinding his scarf, so he decided to head to the restroom to take a piss and clean up his hair.

Following the few minutes of hair adjusting, Levi left the bathroom, pacing his way back to his seat. As he pulled his chair out, a familiar voice caught his attention. Turning towards the door, he saw two very imposing men in business suits entering the restaurant. While both of them were quite tall, with overly-expensive looking suits and impeccable blonde hair, it was the eyebrows that drew his eyes. Eyebrows’ eyebrows, to be exact. Levi sat himself slowly into his chair, watching as the two imposing blondies took a table for two not far from his seat. Curiosity got the better of him, as he settled himself in his seat with an ear turned to their table. He sipped his gin and tonic and nibbled on his pizza while eavesdropping on the customers of interest.

“... the intern? Yeah, I think Jaeger has excellent potential,” catching what appeared to be the end of Eyebrows’ friend, Mustache’s, statement.

“He’s fiery, but he is determined and quite committed to succeeding. I don’t think I’ve ever seen any engineer his age churn out so many alternate plans for a restaurant in a week.” Eyebrows chuckled, a deep and sincere noise that almost reverberated in Levi’s chest. Levi scowled and ate another bite of pizza, annoyed at how boom-y Eyebrows’ voice was, even in a restaurant. It’s as if he consciously demanded that everyone pay attention to him. Like his stature wasn’t imposing enough as it was. He kind of hoped Eyebrows wasn’t the type to call out a stranger that may have publicly humiliated him at a cafe. Oops.

“I think it would really benefit us to hire him on to the company. But we have some time to decide. The other intern, Arlert? There’s no doubt he helped Jaeger with those plans,” Mustache had a creepy grin when he said that. Maybe it was his prominent nose that made it creepy.

“Are you saying this because you have actual evidence or because you’re interested in him?” Eyebrows asked, raising one of his bushy brows with the inflection of his question. Mustache snorted in response turning away, but their conversation was interrupted by the waiter coming to take the two men’s orders.

Levi quickly downed the rest of his gin and tonic, buzz already coming on quickly, but ready for another one. These guys were boring as hell to listen to, but Levi had nothing better to do anyways. He decided, with a not-completely sober mind, that tonight would be spent drinking and listening to rich guys talking about rich people problems. He snorted maybe a little too loudly at the thought, because Mustache flicked a quick gaze at him. Must have decided Levi was of little significance, as his gaze did not linger in Levi’s direction.

He heard the men order some pasta dishes, accompanied by a probably overpriced bottle of red wine. They both had a similar way of speaking, with professional manners and deep voices. Levi nibbled some more on the pizza as they continued with their conversation, but he interrupted his own eavesdropping by snagging the waiter to order a second gin and tonic. She zipped away quickly to get Levi’s drink. She was kind of cute, and not overly chipper like Levi despised, so he decided that he’d give her as nice as a tip as he could afford. Plus he was pretty sure he’d seen her around campus. He grunted and shrugged his shoulders to himself.

“...-ck him. I like when interns have good heads on their shoulders. Arlert made quite the impressive set of plans for a 3-floor remodeling contract with Red Solar,” Mustache stated.

_Did he say “fuck him”? Levi thought to himself. Who the fuck is he trying to fuck? These are interns they’re talking about, doesn’t that mean they’re, I don’t know, my age?_

He wasn’t sure how exactly he felt about that. Kind of uncomfortable, kind of jealous. These guys had to be well off, and having a sugar daddy didn’t sound like too bad of an idea. Lucky Arlert. He would never admit it to any human being that would ever ask him, but there was a part of him that considered trying to hit on one of these two. A very small part of him. Okay, not THAT small, but picking up sugar daddies wasn’t exactly his specialty. So he let the thought die along with the brain cells he was killing with the second gin and tonic that arrived at his table. Damn that girl was fast.

After that, they changed the subject to something about a construction site or some shit, and it didn’t particularly interest him. Over the next half hour or so, he finished the rest of what he could consume of the pizza, got a box for the rest, and downed the last of a third glass of gin and tonic. Might have been over zealous of him, but Levi figured that he could use the reprieve from sobriety. Especially after that fucking chemistry exam. The buzz had grown to a solid tipsy (damn being so small) and he accidentally let his scowl slip into a crooked grin when the ends of the scarf he flung around his neck smacked him in the face. He coughed out a small laugh, unintentionally catching the attention of Eyebrows with the noise. It took him a second to realize it, but when Levi turned to take the bill from the waitress, he realized that Eyebrows was staring at him with this intent look on his face. Kinda creepy. Whatever partial grin was sitting on Levi’s face fell immediately, and he looked away quickly with embarrassment. Tipsy Levi worried that Eyebrows recognized him from the cafe. He hoped he didn’t.

He quickly paid his check, grateful that Hange’s giftcard covered most of his dinner (the drinks got expensive quickly), tipped the waiter, then smoothly slipped on his peacoat. A quick glance in his peripherals indicated that Eyebrows had turned back to look at Mustache. Levi figured now was as good as any time to leave, so he made his way out of the restaurant and started the trek home. Levi would later chalk it up to the drinks he’d had, but he would have almost sworn that Eyebrows was looking at his backside as he walked out the restaurant door.

 _Good._ He grinned connivingly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It always feels so much longer when you're typing it than when you're reading it. I'll try to make the next chapter a bit longer ..

**Author's Note:**

> *masksarehot's work inspired me to write this. Hope you enjoy!*


End file.
